Google CEO Page: Glass production numbers TBD

Google Glass production numbers TBD

When it comes to Google Glass, it’s a brave new future loaded with possibilities for Larry Page. But Google’s chief executive told attendees at the company’s big developer confab Wednesday that it was still too early to gauge consumers’ reaction once the products go on sale.”I don’t know what the production numbers will be,” Page said during a Q&A session following nearly three hours of presentations at the company’s the annual developer conference in San Francisco. He described Glass as “a new category” with no parallel to existing computing devices.

“I think our main goal is to get happy users using Glass. We’ve put a bunch out to developers, we want to make sure we’re building experiences that are making people happy.”

“The team has tried to build a minimal set of things that will provide a great experience and make happy users,” he continued. “We can get going on it and work on it for the next ten years. Part of the answer is, we don’t know — the basic use cases we have around photography are amazing.”

Page elaborated by sharing a personal anecdote.

“I love taking pictures of my kids with Glass. For me, that’s enough reason to have Glass just there. I think if you didn’t have young kids you might not feel exactly that way. I’m not sure. Communications are also pretty amazing, navigation is amazing. Having Glass for navigation is unbelievable, and I also find that some of the core experiences we have are amazing. Communication, phone calls, SMS, voice, it’s amazing to always have the device there to do that. Ultimately, a lot of your experience can move to Glass. We’re relying all of you to figure that out.”

Sights from the 2013 Google I/O keynote

The audience was filled with attendees wearing Google Glass headgear. So far, Google has shipped about 10,000 units to developers, beta testers, and winners of its “If I Had Glass” contest.However, Page did not offer any more details about a delivery timetable or price. Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, last month told the BBC that the company was “probably a yearish away” before the product went on sale to the public. Also, at $1,500 a pop, that’s a hefty price tag for most folks considering whether to buy a pair of Google’s high-tech spectacles.